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70 Candidates in Fray for National Highway Authority Chief Job

  • Over 70 senior officials from various stream - IAS, Engineering Services including Railways; Public Sector Units, academia and private sector - have queued up for the top job of the Chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) .The job will involve being responsible for awarding some 7,500 km of national highway stretches a year, apart from overseeing the maintenance of 70,000 km of national highways. At least 27 officials from the IAS cadre and 20 from the Engineering and other services pool have applied.
  • The chairman will be appointed for three years, and can be re-appointed for two more years. There is an age limit of 65 years.The Road Transport and Highways Minister, Mr C.P. Joshi, who has been seeking a technocrat, has a mixed platter now to choose from. The names include Mr P.J. Oommen, Chief Secretary, Government of Chhattisgarh; Mr L. Radhakrishnan, JN Port Chairman; Mr R.C. Mishra, Chief Provident Fund Commissioner, EPFO; Mr Ajay Bhattacharya, Secretary, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers; Prof. R Srinivasan, Indian Institute of Science; Mr George Tharakan, formerly with World Bank; Mr Shishir Priyadarshi, WTO, Geneva; Mr Shakeel Ahmed, CMD, Hindustan Copper; Mr S.P. Pachauri, Director (HR), MTNL; Mr V.P. Baligar, CMD, HUDCO; Mr A.P. Mishra, Member-Engineering, Railway Board; Mr S.S. Khurana, former Chairman Railway Board; and Dr K. Ramalingam, Chairman, Maytas Infra.There are former NHAI Members, former Director-Generals – Roads, CPWD; and former Secretaries.

PRIVATE SECTOR

  • This is the first time the Government is considering candidates from private infrastructure firms for the post. So, it had invited applications from senior officials from infrastructure and infrastructure finance firms with turnover of over Rs 2,000 crore.But, the participation from private sector has been restricted because of a Government rule for candidates, which disqualifies all existing CEOs of large infrastructure firms with exposure to NH projects.The rule, aimed at preventing conflict of interest, basically states: In case the applicant was from an infrastructure firm that had dealings with the NHAI, the applicant could apply only if he had resigned from his job at least two years ago.

THE POST IN PAST

  • Since August 31, 2010, the NHAI has not had a dedicated, full-time Government official as chairman.The appointment to the NHAI top job has been mired in controversies during the first and current tenure of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government.Since January 1, 2011, the Highway Ministry Secretaries — Mr R.S. Gujral and Mr A.K. Upadhyay — have been holding additional charge as the NHAI Chairman.Between September 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010, the outgoing Chairman was “re-employed on contract basis” instead of “an extension.” In 2010, at least two selection panels could not arrive at a decision.During UPA's first tenure between 2004 and 2009, there were frequent changes in the top post.

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